To Remember
by MangoPirate
Summary: Remember Merry, Kaya's butler in Syrup Village? This is a story about his life in the past, and how he got to be the butler who built the Going Merry. Now complete!
1. Prologue

**Author's Note:** Remember Merry? The one who gave the Mugiwara Kaizoku-dan their ship? Most people don't think about him, but he's one of my favorite characters. And we don't have enough information about him. So I took it upon myself to write a sort of... backstory for him. My take on Merry's life before Kaya and Kuro and all the things we see in the series.  
This is the longest fic I think I've ever written. Please read and review it!

**Warnings:** None, really, unless you haven't seen the Usopp story arc yet. And there is death in this fic, if that bothers you.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own One Piece and I never will. Flames will be used for sacrificing marshmallow Peeps.

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**To Remember**

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The boxes in the basement were old and dusty, but Kaya liked them, even though they made her sneeze a few times. They reminded her of the past, and with each new uncovered container, another piece of family history and memory was located. She sighed as she pulled another box toward her, handing the last one off to Merry, who was in turn packing things away more neatly. The two of them had been in the basement for hours, lovingly looking over each item, one by one.

"Oh, pictures!" exclaimed Kaya happily. "I was hoping to find some. I wonder how old these are?"

Merry sat down next to her and took out the first of many photos from the box. He chuckled softly at it, showing it to her.

"It's my parents," she said quietly.

"Yes," he answered, "and your father was just about to throw your mother in the pond there."

Kaya laughed as she pulled out another picture, slightly older than the first. In it, her parents smiled, her mother holding up her hand to show off a very recent wedding ring. Kaya sighed and said, "I didn't realize they'd gotten married so young."

"Yes, you father was only twenty-one years old at the wedding. Your mother was even younger," Merry smiled, then added seriously, "but don't go getting any ideas."

"Don't be silly, Merry," Kaya giggled. "I'm not even interested in anyone right now."

"You're a worse liar than he is," muttered Merry, snatching the next picture and showing it to her.

With a frown, Kaya asked, "Who are these people?"

Peering over her shoulder, Merry breathed, "My goodness... that man there in the center was your father's father--your grandfather. His wife died young, so he hired all these people to help him keep up the house and raise your father." He pointed to a group of people all standing around the grandfather, gesturing to a woman holding a baby and standing on his left. "That's your father, at about one year old," he smiled.

Kaya peered at the photo. On the right-hand side of her grandfather, there stood a little boy of about seven years old. He wore a stained t-shirt and two tight-looking bands on both of his wrists, and stared with wide eyes out from behind shaggy pale hair. The longer she peered, the more familiar the child looked, until she turned to Merry and declared, "That's you, isn't it?"

He blushed nervously and said, "I guess it is, isn't it? Your grandfather bought me when I was around five years old. He was so good to all of us... we were all slaves, really. It was your father who finally got rid of that and actually started paying us."

Kaya's expression was one of sheer disbelief. "You were a slave?"

"Ah... yes, yes I was. So were my parents, but they weren't sold at the same time I was. I was so happy to be going with your grandfather... he had a reputation for being very kind to his servants."

"You don't wear bands on your arms anymore," Kaya said. "And you certainly don't behave like a slave... not that I ever want you to."

Merry smiled warmly and began to idly sort through a few more pictures. "You're as good as your ancestors were, to all of us--" he stopped short, and his breath caught in his throat. Giving a strangled cry, he threw the pictures back into the box and leapt to his feet.

"What in the world...?" Kaya lifted the offending stack back out again, despite Merry muttering for her not to, and scrutinized the photo on top. It was of a little girl with a huge, happy smile, dressed plainly, her curly brown hair pulled back from her face in a headband. She was standing in front of the sea, holding an armful of blueprints precariously and apparently laughing joyously. Kaya tore her eyes from the strange picture and gazed up at Merry, who looked horrified. She sorted through the next five pictures, all of the same girl at around the same age--roughly five or six--holding planks of wood, buckets of nails, a hammer... and always on the beach, always smiling. In the last photo, the little girl rode on the shoulders of a much younger Merry, with the beginnings of a ship's skeleton behind them. They were both laughing.

"Who is the girl, Merry?" asked Kaya. He was slowly returning to normal, sitting down again next to her and heaving a deep breath.

"It's a long story," he said finally.

Sensing this already, she replied, "We have plenty of time. I'd like to know... you never have told me anything about yourself, before I was born." She smiled at him and patted his hand. "Tell me a story?"

He swallowed. He could not refuse those strong eyes, behind which lurked a constant hint of sadness. So he settled back against the boxes and started his tale.


	2. Chapter One

**Author's Note:** Welcome to part two! Bear with the length here... I want to get this story told, so I've been writing like a crazy person and it's a bit lengthy for me. I promise you'll enjoy it if you read it though. Same warnings and disclaimer still apply.

Please read and review!

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The first memory I really have is of the slave lines, I guess... probably because that's where I was born. I remember how badly everyone smelled, and how the shackles on my wrists and neck always itched. I was chained behind a women who called herself my mother, but I never saw her face--only the back of her head, but she had horns like me, so I believed her. We walked in a line, slept in a line... marched onto ships and sailed in a line. Sometimes the woman in front of me talked to me in a broken voice; that's the only reason I knew my name. I don't know where my family was from, or even what island I was born on, but her accent was strange. I remember her being sold somewhere in West Blue, but nobody wanted to buy a scrawny little kid who could barely speak. So the hunched figure and matted white hair I'd followed for five years suddenly vanished, and I had to follow an old man instead. I kept going like that, until I was about seven years old and we docked here, in Syrup Village.

The other slaves had started whispering as soon as we landed here, about a man who was well known as a wonderfully kind master. Those of us who could still lift our heads immediately began scanning the crowds for him, earning a few blows to the back and head for being so insolent. It was obvious when we finally did find him; he had gentle eyes that looked a lot like yours do now, Oujousama. Everyone's eyes pleaded with your grandfather, so I assumed I had no chance. But then he stopped in front of me and put a hand on my shoulder.

"Where do your people come from, boy?" he asked slowly, and I suddenly couldn't stand to look him in the eyes.

"I... don't know, sir," I replied in my cracked voice, gazing somewhere just over his left shoulder. I held my breath and waited for a response from him, but all he did was nod to a man who was with him. The next thing I knew, though, the two of them were unchaining my neck from the line and cutting the links between my wrists--leaving the bands, as a sign of my slave status. I stood there in astonishment while your grandfather haggled with the other man, letting the breeze blow against my neck for the first time in my life. Then my new master beckoned to me and I followed him back here, to the mansion.

This place was smaller then--it was your father who added on a lot of the rooms, but it was still like a palace to me. Your grandfather sent me with a gaggle of women servants, telling them to get me cleaned up and dressed for dinner. They gossiped to me about how the master's wife had recently died, and they hoped I would be the one helping take care of his baby son instead of them. By the time I was presentable, I'd heard at least one story about nearly everyone who worked in the house, and a few who didn't.

From that day on, my life was entirely different. I woke up early every morning to help the cook clean vegetables and dishes for breakfast, and then it was my job to feed the baby before I could eat. Your father was an atrocious child, Oujousama--but I ate breakfast with him every day anyway, even when he got older. We were really quite good friends, despite the seven year age difference. And there was a milkmaid named Sera who came by every day, a bit older than I was, who thought it was "just so cute" that I helped take care of a little boy.

Your father laughed at me when she made me blush. He didn't understand at first--he was too young, I think. But I liked Sera, from about as early on as I liked anything about girls. She always looked dirty, but I didn't notice; I looked the same, anyway. We never talked much, but it was enough for me to decide that I adored her. Or maybe that was because I never saw any other girls near my age.

In any case, your father never had to worry about girls. He was arrange to marry your mother early on.

You didn't know your parents' marriage was arranged? Ah... it was, but they loved each other anyway. And he knew he was going to marry her, so he didn't deal with other women very much.

One day, Sera came by to find the mansion dark and dreary. The old master had passed away in the night, and your father was in too bad of a state to even decide whether or not he wanted to buy the milk for the day. So Sera sat on the front steps with me while the older servants tried to calm down our new master.

"So the little kid is in charge now?" she asked me, tossing her hair over her shoulder as if she were a snobbish, wealthy girl.

"Mm," I grunted in a failed attempt at manliness, adding, "but he's seventeen. He's really old enough to start handling things here... but I'm sure he's really sad over losing his father."

"You can't blame him," she said. "And he's probably scared. That's a lot of responsibility... I'm glad I'm not rich." She smiled, and I had to turn my head away to hide my blush. but she only laughed and said, "You're too cute," and I knew my face was on fire.

We talked well into the afternoon, and by the time she left, we had both long forgotten about the milk. I was completely smitten with her, and--

Oujousama, don't giggle like that. It's hard enough to tell you this as it is.

...Did I what? Oujousama! You're getting ahead of the story...

Sera and I grew closer, with the increased absence of your father after that. He was constantly busy, although he still found time to talk with me over dinner. He had truly become a man with the sudden responsibility of the house, the money, and the servants, and there was such a rift in our social positions that I began to feel more and more awkward trying to keep our friendship going.

But... not nearly as awkward as I felt a few months later, when he opened the woodshed to find me and Sera--

...Oh, honestly, Oujousama, it's not that surprising, is it? We were in love, I'm sure you understand.

Your father was furious at me--he said anyone could have walked in there, and we were lucky it was just him. I probably would have been in trouble for a long time, if not for Sera...

Oh, Oujousama, she was really a lovely girl. Dark brown hair, deep eyes, and a full figure... very beautiful for someone of her status. I don't know what she saw in me, really. I was even below her at the time... just a slave, still wearing those wrist bands and everything. But getting caught made our relationship somehow even stronger, and a bit exciting, too--even if your father wouldn't speak to me for weeks afterward. He was still such a child at heart.

But he became a lot more mature when I told him that Sera was with child--and so did I. (Don't give me that look, Oujousama...) He called me to the parlor one day, sat me down, and told me something I never thought I'd hear.

"Merry... I want to start paying you."

"Paying me?" I asked incredulously. "Please, don't joke."

He smiled at me, and I knew he was serious. "You've been nothing but wonderful to this family. One of the best servants we ever had, according to my father, and I agree. And I know that you and Sera cannot raise a child on a milkmaid's salary."

"The others will hate me," I blurted, "if I'm getting paid and they're not."

"I'm going to pay you all eventually, but you're first," he grinned, and I forgot for a moment that he was only a teenager still--making such hefty decisions about his family's fortune. So I hugged him, which I'm sure was against the rules somehow, and thanked him, and even cried a little.

He was so involved with everything for me and Sera then. He spent long evenings chatting with us under the stars out in the garden, asking Sera what she wanted to name the baby, asking me if I thought I could build onto the mansion for him. (I told him no, of course--I studied ships, not houses, in my spare time.) And he was the first one to notice that Sera was looking pale and sickly, actually losing weight the longer she progressed in her pregnancy.

When he pointed it out to me, I denied it completely, but by the time the baby was due, she could no longer walk and was having a difficult time even breathing. She couldn't get to the midwife, so we had to put her up in a spare room in the mansion and get the female servants to help until the midwife could reach us. The women pushed me out of the room, and so I sat in the parlor and waited.

And waited, and waited, and panicked, and waited some more.

The head maid stepped into the doorway at one time and beckoned your father over to her. They stepped out for awhile, and I was on the verge of smoking for the first time when he finally returned.

"Merry," he said, and the tone of his voice was... heartbreaking. Truly... truly heartbreaking, Oujousama.

I jumped to my feet and grabbed his hands and asked wildly, "What's happened? Tell me, tell me what happened!"

Your father was calm enough, but his being calm made things even worse for me. His eyes were dark, and he struggled with what to say... but I knew it had to be something horrible. I sunk onto the sofa and stared out blankly, my mouth hanging open.

"Merry," he said again finally, but I didn't bother to move. "The baby's fine. It's a girl."

"So Sera...," I stammered. "What... what about Sera?"

He turned his eyes from mine, and I needed no other answer. I must have cried out somehow, because he was shushing me one moment, and I was frantically trying to pry open his father's gun case the next.

"Merry, what are you doing? Stop it, stop it right now--" He was always stronger than I was, and he managed to wrestle me back to the couch before I could get to the guns. I sat there in silence for two days.


	3. Chapter Two

**Author's Note:** Part three! If anyone is wondering, I believe the word "oujousama" can also be spelled "ojousama", or we could just call her Miss Kaya, but I tend to go with "oujousama" myself, so bear with me. Also, you'll probably want to know by the end of this chapter that "ame" means "rain" in Japanese.  
Merry has turned out to be so much fun to write about!

Please read and review!

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"Merry," gasped Kaya. "I had no idea... about any of that." She put her arms around his neck and hugged him quickly, before looking back to the photos of the little girl. "So this is your daughter?"

He was frantically rubbing his eyes when she turned back to him, and she put a hand on his shoulder. "You really don't have to tell me anything else, you know. I'm so sorry I made you--"

"No, no, Oujousama. You're the only one I've told the whole story to. But I warn you... it's not going to get any more pleasant, not for awhile anyway."

"Oh, Merry... don't go on if you can't."

"I want to, really." He took one of the pictures lightly in his hands and smiled distantly before he continued his story.

Sometime after Sera's passing, I realized I had a baby daughter to take care of, and I started to come out of the deep depression I'd found myself wallowing in. The girl was precious, somewhat weak but growing stronger every day. I called her Ame. She was very smart, and after I got used to the idea of her being there, I found myself talking to her as though she knew exactly what I was saying. I carried her in a satchel on my back everywhere I went, and her eyes lit up when we went on our weekly market trips to the town. But more than anything, she loved to play with the models I used to study shipbuilding anytime I had a free moment. I was intent on designing my own ship and building it personally, so I was able to keep myself busy enough with that and raising a baby.

Ame was three years old when your parents were married, Oujousama. Your mother didn't much like her, I'm afraid--I think she blamed Ame for being born out of wedlock, but she managed to hide her disdain from the child anyway. And she did buy a beautiful little dress for Ame to wear at their wedding, which seemed to please her as much as fancy clothing can please a three-year-old.

When the house gained its first lady in years, things began to slowly change. More maids were hired, and she swore she would leave if we did not get rid of the slave bands we all wore. So we did, and I was able to scratch my wrists for the first time in twenty-eight years. Then she insisted we all dress in black and white--dresses for the women, suits for the men--and clean the house twice a week. Thankfully, she allowed your father to keep paying us, because Ame was turning out to be more of a financial burden than I first expected.

She followed me everywhere, too--to the market, cleaning the house, buying what little supplies I could afford to build my ship. She never begged for toys, but one day she saw a plain little turquoise dress in a window that she wanted, so I decided to forego my weekly tool-buying excursion to get her that instead. She wore it almost every day, either barefooted or with clunky hand-me-down boots from one of the town women. She's wearing it in all of those pictures, you see?

She "helped" me build the first, rough skeleton of the ship, and I should never have let her get near that place. She was my entire world by that point--five years old, and always happy, always singing or skipping and completely ignoring the neighborhood children who laughed at her for being so poor. I knew she was fascinated with the ship, but children can be surprising, and I had no idea what she was planning in her little head.

I should have known... little comments and questions should have led me to realize that she wanted to climb up to the top of that skeleton. I think she wanted to fly--she always talked about how she wished she had wings, or wished she was a bird. I joked with her and told her maybe she would find a Devil Fruit someday, and then she could turn into a bird.

I don't know how she managed to sneak out... I guess I was just too asleep to hear her. But something woke me up a little bit later, and I knew something was wrong before I even noticed that she was gone. When I saw her empty bed, I jumped out of mine and threw on pants and an undershirt--no shoes, even, before I ran to your parents' room and beat on the door.

"Wake up! Wake up!" I kept shouting, but there was no answer, and I checked the door--it was unlocked, and no one was there. But out the window I could see a cluster of lights in the distance, so I ran for that instead.

The closer I got, the more dread ate away at my heart. I was sick when I realized the lights were lanterns, coming from the beach where the in-progress ship was under construction. But the crowd was so thick that I couldn't tell exactly what was going on, and I breathed out hopes and prayers every step of the way. Then I began to shove my way to the center, not even opening my mouth to apologize for pushing people.

But one of those people was your father, who flung his arms around my torso and shrieked, "No, Merry! Stay back!" Your mother hovered at his side, staring at me, so horrified, as though I were some sort of a monster.

I struggled to get out of your father's grip, shouting incoherently all the while, but to no avail. He shouted back, every time slightly louder, "Merry, listen to me! Listen! Listen to me!"

"Where is my daughter?" I finally cried, meeting his eyes for the first time that night. "Where is Ame?"

"She must have snuck out of the house," he answered softly. "She was here, climbing on the ship."

Your mother turned her eyes to him and said, "Tell him the truth, or I will."

I was gasping and frantic, but I stopped fighting and asked in a wild voice, "Tell me what? Tell me! What is it?"

But neither of them could find the words, and I found a sudden raging strength to break away from your father and force my way through the rest of the crowd, emerging on the other side to find a doctor bending over a small body lying next to the ship. Some kind of animalistic scream escaped my throat, and I stumbled to them, with your parents close behind me. The doctor's eyes were steely when he saw me standing next to him, but I hardly cared; I was breathing rapidly and trying to control myself as much as possible, but I couldn't pull my gaze away.

"This is your daughter," the doctor said, as if I didn't know that. I nodded and swallowed the vomit building up in my throat.

"She fell from the top of this ship," he went on.

"Can't you help her?" I asked, kneeling by her and reaching out to pick her up.

He stopped me with only his eyes. "No, I'm afraid I can't."

"...Why not?" My voice was nearly gone, but he heard me anyway.

"Because," he huffed, "I could have done something if it was only an arm or leg she broke. But not her spine. People don't just recover from that."

I heard your mother mutter something behind me, and your father knelt next to me, moving his gaze from the crumpled child to my absolutely appalled face. He nodded to the doctor, who stepped away, and the motion brought me back to reality. I remember picking up her body and holding it close for a long while, as the crowd behind me dispersed and everyone except your parents left the scene. And I remember pulling in a shaking breath, pausing, then screaming at the top of my lungs... over and over and over into the night, until I must have passed out.

Oh, Oujousama... I told you it was not a good story... if you cry, it will only make me cry again too.

Oujousama, can we put these pictures away? ...thank you.

The next three years were a complete and utter nightmare. I wanted to destroy the original skeleton of the ship, but your father talked me out of it. But I put away the blueprints and pulled the thing inland so I wouldn't have to think about it anymore, and it was years until I repaired it and got back to work.

At the end of that three-year mourning, your mother suddenly announced one evening that she was going to have a baby. Something about the excitement of preparing for the new heir or heiress to the family fortune infected everyone in the house, including me, and we all began to build and paint and decorate for an oncoming child. I smiled when I thought I couldn't ever smile again, and people in the town even stopped me to ask what had happened to make me suddenly so happy.

I remember walking one day and bumping into a group of pirates who were trying unsuccessfully to buy some food from a merchant in the town. They were arguing about how they should be able to buy food, because at least they weren't trying to steal it... no, I'm not bringing this up for any reason, except that when the rest of those pirates left, one of them stayed for awhile longer--that was Usopp's father.

Yes, Oujousama, he is younger than you. I'm certain he knows that, but you can tell him when he comes back.

In any case, it seemed like it was no time until doctors and midwives were rushing in to your mother's room, and all of the men were sitting in the parlor smoking and joking around. I sat there too, but I didn't talk, and tried to stay as far away from the group as I could. But your father wouldn't have that, so he joined me eventually, offering me a cigarette.

"No thanks," I said. "I'm not worried."

"I'm not worried about the birth, I'm just worried about being a father," he laughed quietly. "Especially if it's a girl."

"It's not so bad," I answered, in a way that said I didn't want to talk anymore.

He stretched and then relaxed, sighing as he deflated. "You're right. Girls are less trouble, or so I've heard." When I didn't say anything, he went on. "Actually, Merry, we were talking the other night and we'd like to... hm. We'd like to ask you to be this child's godfather."

I blinked at him. "Why?"

"Well," he said, taken aback, "because! We want someone to take care of... him or her... in case something happens to us."

"...I am hardly capable of taking care of a child," I retorted finally. "Pick someone else, please."

"Oh shut up, Merry--I have complete faith in you. And I won't take no for an answer."

So what could I say? After a long while of sitting and seething, glaring daggers at him, I had to agree. Looking back, I'm so glad I did.


	4. Chapter Three

**Author's note:** Thank you SO much, everyone who has been reading this! I'm so proud of this fanfic, so I'm really glad you're all enjoying it. This is the last chapter--I just thought it needed a little bit more wrapping up than the previous chapter gave it. To all you readers, I really, REALLY appreciate you and your comments.

Please, keep reading and reviewing!

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"So that's when I was born?" Kaya asked.

"Yes," replied Merry. "And of course you were a girl, and of course your father was terrified of raising a daughter. I overheard him one night telling your mother that he refused to force you into an arranged marriage--which is why you haven't been yet. But I suppose you were about two years old when she was discussing it with him."

"I'm so glad he stopped her." A pause, then, "I'm going to put this box of pictures away, okay?"

"Oh, Oujousama, your dress is filthy," exclaimed Merry when she stood up. "We shouldn't stay in this basement much longer."

"You'll just have to finish the story then," she grinned. "Because I don't remember being a baby, you know."

"There's only more sadness, you realize."

She lowered her gaze and replied, "I know. But you don't have to tell that part... I was there for that."

Merry stood up and stretched, then looked at her. "If I hadn't had you, I probably would have grieved myself to death when we lost your father. There's only so much loss a person can take."

Kaya's eyes were shining with the threat of tears as she met his eyes. "That's why we're sticking together," she said presently, and Merry smiled and hugged her close before clearing his throat to tell one final part of the story.

You should remember part of this, Oujousama--it's the time when I proved to your parents--and myself--that I was perfectly capable of taking care of you in the event of their absence.

I'm sure you remember when I started working on the ship again. You used to follow me there when your mother didn't know it, and even though I tried my best to keep you from coming along, you still toddled after me every chance you got. Do you remember? You loved to climb the trees nearby, and I didn't mind it so much, as long as I could keep an eye on you. They were small trees, after all.

One day, I was working in the yard at the mansion, carving out the figurehead for the ship--there was no need to do that task at the ship itself; I was planning to attach it later. You were only about three years old, but you were already exploring everything. I was sitting under the tree ouside your window, doing my carving, and you were trying your best to climb into the lowest limbs, using my shoulders as a starting point. And that, of course, made the carving process even more difficult, but I wasn't going to stop you if you were having fun. Periodically, your mother and father peeked outside to check on things, before going back in to whatever it was they were doing. Eventually, you managed to swing onto the very lowest limb of the tree, and took to sitting up there throwing leaves down on my head and giggling.

I went on carving, getting somewhat lost in my work, and suddenly I realized you weren't giggling anymore. In fact, I couldn't hear you or see you anymore at all--and then I spotted you, in the branches of the tree far above your bedroom window. I don't know how you got up there so quickly on such short legs, but you did, and you were standing defiantly above me, sticking your tongue out.

"Kaya," I called up to you--you weren't "oujousama" yet--"You come down from that tree, or I'll tell your mother and you won't be allowed any ice cream after dinner tonight."

Usually that worked, but something got into you and you only kept sticking your tongue out and staring crossly at me. It was about that time that your parents came to check on things again and saw what was going on; your mother screamed at you, which startled you and caused you to lose your balance, which in turn made both of your parents start screaming even louder. Your father managed to stop shouting long enough to run under the tree with his arms outstretched, but his judgement was too far off--I noticed that immediately. So, I did what any other caretaker would have done, really.

I leapt to my feet, jumped at the side of the house, and used it as a springboard to turn and hop toward the tree. And I managed to grab you midair just as you went falling past me. I was much more agile back then, Oujousama... your father and mother could hardly stop praising me after that. Of course I didn't do it for the praise... I didn't want you to get hurt, you know. I just couldn't sit by and watch that happen again.

"I remember that now," Kaya mused slowly. "Yes... I was so scared that day. I thought I fell because I was being punished for sticking out my tongue at you."

With a laugh, Merry patted her shoulder. "If you remember that, then I don't think I have any other stories to tell you. You remember growing up, you remember Kurahadoru... there's nothing else to tell."

"I remember you telling me bedtime stories when I couldn't sleep," she replied. "And sneaking me cookies before dinner..."

"You've always been a fan of stories," said Merry, and Kaya pretended not to know what he was talking about. He smiled and followed her up the stairs, back to reality and away from the dusty basement.

At the top of the steps, Kaya turned around and smiled, speaking earnestly.

"Thank you, Merry."

_End_

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**Thank you so much for reading!**

I'd like to point out that I really wanted the final sentence to be "Arigatou, Merry" but I didn't want to use a random piece of Japanese like that... those of you who have heard Usopp's song 'Fly Merry Fly' will get that reference, though... even though that's the ship Merry and not the sheepman. Ah well. ;;

Again, thank you all SO much for reading! Lots of love!


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